Beijing

I haven't been able to blog anything because we couldn't figure out how to set up our laptop for the internet. We figured we must just be doing something wrong. We finally asked a lady from the Business Center to come up to our room and show us how to fix it. She looked around and told us we had the wrong line to connect - we needed a wider ("ethernet") phone-type cord. So it wasn't our fault after all!

Posted 11/7/05: OK, so I'm going back and posting this entry later.
In Beijing we stayed at the Jinglun Hotel, which was pretty nice. We had a comfortable room and a breakfast buffet every morning. The first morning I saw a couple I recognized from their picture on the Travel Group 862 Yahoo group. So I went up to them and asked if they were Becky and Keith...well, of course, they were. They are from Mississippi, and we had a great time with them. The first day, we were touring a pearl factory, and one of the saleswomen asked if we were sisters. Becky told her, "No, we just met this morning!" I don't know if she thought we were sisters because we seemed so friendly or because we all look alike to them...seriously, blonde hair and blue eyes are not that common here.

Our guide was Beaudy (pronounced like Beauty), and our driver was Mr. Ren. We got along so well with them, we invited them to dinner our last night, and we invited Beaudy and his girlfriend, May, to a Kung Fu Ballet with us another night. We also saw an amazing Chinese acrobatic show. Remember those people who twirled plates on long sticks on the Ed Sullivan show? Well, bring that up a couple dozen notches, and you're getting close. I don't know why they aren't on the Chinese Olympic team.

Beijing was the perfect introduction to China, especially as a contrast to Hong Kong, our next stop. The two cities couldn't be more different.

12/18/05: I'm gradually adding more photos to the blog as I have time. These are some views of our tour of Beijing.



I found these three American tourist-types just outside the Forbidden City. I know...they look pretty disreputable, don't they? I'm sure they're up to no good.










The Great Hall of the People (Tiananmen Square)












The Great Wall at Badaling, near Beijing.

OK, I know it's been said before, but this really is awesome (in the true sense of the word). Mr. Ren drove us up there and we only spent a short time on the Great Wall. We didn't do the big hike - it really is steep going up those mountains. I could have stayed there just looking for hours but we did have a show to get to that evening.






NO, this is not a nightmare...they really ARE everywhere!!! A Starbucks in the Forbidden City. Beaudy told us he was shocked when they put this in.